DESIRE WILL SET YOU FREE

A young American writer falls for a Russian hustler and introduces him to his alternative lifestyle amongst Berlin’s queer and underground scenes, but as they make their hedonistic journey through clubs and parties, their inner desires reveal themselves.

Ezra, an American writer of Palestinian and Israeli parentage living in Berlin, spends his days clubbing, taking drugs, having pseudo-philosophical conversations and wanting to be more punk, whilst wishing he wrote more. Most of his time is spent with his privileged dark, but witty friend Catharine, who has an unsettling fetish for Nazi paraphernalia. As the two of them look for their next excitement fix, they end up in one of Berlin’s famous gay hustler bars.

Almost on a dare Ezra meets Sasha, a Russian immigrant working as an escort. Ezra pulls Sasha on a journey through Berlin’s underground and queer scenes. He discovers the stomping ground for hedonism and exploration. He discovers remnants of WWII, The Weimar Republic, Bowie and the present day party kids. Much like taking a drug itself, the line between reality and desire is blurred in the land of excess. What starts out as a seemingly conventional gay relationship reveals itself as more complex and dynamic as their true inner desires are revealed.

Filmed entirely in Berlin, the film uses real locations where many Berlin based personalities give performances some playing themselves. These include ‘Godmother of Punk’ Nina Hagen as Oracle, cult musician and performance artist Peaches, along with Rosa Von Praunheim, Rummelsnuff, Blood Orange, and Einstuerzende Neubauten and Blixa Bargeld (formerly of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds).